Abandoned in a Graveyard…kewl

IMAG2555Happy Almost Halloween Fishy Friends!

I fear I may have celebrated a wee bit early and the experience was so cool, I’m not sure it can be topped. Okay, I guess with enough mini-snickers and tootsie rolls, actual Halloween night will be outstanding too. But let me tell you about how I spent last month’s Friday the 13th…

It was a cold, cold night. Okay, not so much for me because I’ve lived in Virginia five years now. But for my aunt who was visiting from San Diego, it was a cold, cold night. Dare I say blistery even. On an earlier excursion that week, I’d taken my aunt to Old Town Alexandria in search of cupcakes, purses and trinkets from my favorite local store, The Christmas Attic. After giving ourselves quite a fright on the upper level of the store, we scurried back down where my aunt discovered a flyer for the perfect way to spend the upcoming night of Friday the 13th.

A dinner cruise on the Potomac, I wondered. Horse drawn carriage ride through the historic streets, perhaps? Her eyes glittered (because she’s sparkly like that) but I, having seen that glint before, (usually when she’s tormenting me by singing the Freddy Krueger song) recognized the pure evil (okay, maybe not evil, just a little ornery) of her intentions.

Ann and Carlene(Auntie and I then, in typical fashion…her grinning, me very scared)

She smiled, and showed me the flyer.

“Alexandria’s Original Ghost & Graveyard Tour where you’ll walk following an 18th century costumed guide by lantern light through the haunted streets of Old Town…”

Sounded absolutely lovely!

“…At the tour’s end your guide will abandon you in a graveyard!”

Sounded immediately less lovely.

However my aunt had travelled all the way from San Diego, braving the harsh east coast weather (something they don’t have back home–weather, that is, they literally don’t have weather in San Diego.) And she’d bravely gone inside Le Tache Couples Boutique earlier between our rounds of cupcake and purse shopping. I supposed I owed it to her.

Well, I must admit, the tour was fabulous! I loved hearing about the unsolved mysteries, tales of romance and angry ghosts looking for revenge.

Final verdict? Highly recommend being abandoned in a graveyard at least once in your life. And if you can plan it for a Friday the 13th, even better!

Happy Halloween Eve Eve Eve everyone 🙂

IMAG2487Auntie and I now, in typical fashion…she’s fabulous, I’m fabulously silly but not so scared anymore!)

 

 

21 thoughts on “Abandoned in a Graveyard…kewl

  1. I fabulously forgot to pose my question to you all at the end…I’d love to hear the scariest thing you’ve ever done (or been lured to do) on Halloween. And then tell us if it was really all that bad in the end. Cheers!

  2. I love those Alexandria ghost tours, Carlene-Mermaid! Even though they talk about Colonial people. You know how I feel about that.

    Anyway, this past Friday night I went to a Haunted Forest out near Dulles. The actual forest wasn’t too scary to me – even with the clowns wielding chainsaws running at me. However, to get out of the haunted forest, you had to relinquish your flashlight and walk through this “house” in the complete pitch black. Except the house was actually made of bales of hay and it was really tight and low and dark. And oh, did I mention I’m claustrophobic? No, well, I am. And Kerri did not care for going through the claustrophobic house of hay horrors.

    And I may have pushed a little kid to get out of my way.

    1. Seriously Kerri Mermaid…that’s just insane!!! I’d take colonial people any day over a haunted forest at night with chainsaw wielding clowns!!!!!!!! You should give the colonials another chance. 🙂 I’m very proud that you made it out alive.

  3. Did our ghost tour top our trip to Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights???? I don’t think so. 1…. 2….

    But our ghost tour was AWESOME!

    Wait……. I think the most horrific experience was the basement and the top floor back room of Le Taches Couples Boutique!!!!! DUDE!

    1. Hey Auntie Emma, I’m beginning to see a pattern here…first you get us abandoned on the Horror Back Lot of Universal Studios with all those scary guys running loose, then this whole graveyard thingy….
      I think you need to fly back out here just so I can make you visit LeTache’s backroom with me again. 😉 Love you xoxo

  4. Great post, Carlene! Sounds like so much fun.

    I went to a Halloween party this weekend, where there was a guy dressed like a life-sized potted plant. He was just sitting there, in the foyer, and when you walked by, he reached out a grabbed your arm. This happened to me THREE different times, and yep, I jumped and yelped every single time. 🙂

    1. Thanks Pintip, it turned out to be a lot of fun so I’m glad we did it. That potted plant would have gotten me too. You’re just not expecting something like that to jump out at you! I remember a friend of my mom’s who I am told I used to love dressed up as a scary pig one year and scared me in his mask. From that day on, I wouldn’t have anything to do with him. Sometimes, plants and piggies are just downright scary!

    1. Hi Mary Jo 🙂 It sounds like a special memory, even though it’s haunting still. Did you enjoy it as a kid? Did you keep up the tradition? Very interesting 🙂

  5. Fun post and I wish I could share my scariest Halloween story, but for a gal who loves to read horror, I don’t like Halloween. Avoid it big time (perhaps there’s something in my youth, I can’t remember?…:).

    1. Denny, I am shocked! I was sure you dressed up every year as some kick-butt Vampire Slayer lady. But perhaps you are right…there could be something that scared you away from it. It’s totally fine with me if you want to keep your horror between the pages of a book. In fact, I think that’s the way to go! xoxo

  6. My scariest story (although sadly it’s true) was when I was living in a group house. My housemates had a Halloween party, but I was in college and studying for exams. I went to sleep while the party still roared. Woke up because I felt something next to me. Turned on the light and it was.. a priest. Actually, a drunk partygoer dressed as a priest. I moved out a month later.

  7. Carlene,
    I think I have a little woman crush on your auntie. She sounds amazing and fun! I want to go with you next time. I’ve wanted to take the Occoquan ghost tour–apparently we have a bunch of them ’round these here parts.
    One time when I was maybe twelve or thirteen, my parents took my little brother out trick or treating, and I decided to stay home and watch HALLOWEEN on television all by myself. Well, I got to the part with the scary music as the camera kinda pans up the sidewalk of the house (which, incidentally, is in, like, the first two minutes), and I quickly turned the channel to Charlie Brown’s pumpkin patch thing. What a chicken!
    Your pictures are so cute!
    Remember, take me with you next time! 🙂
    Great post, Carlene!

    1. Hi Kim! I’m right there in the Charlie Brown fan club with you. Although, I have to say I could watch the movies like Halloween and Jason and Freddy before I could make it through anything about being possessed. Yikes! Still, my fave Halloween time movie is Hocus Pocus. You’re on for the next ghost tour. There is a ghost, I think his name is James, who haunts a restaurant in Occoquan, and I hear he is awaiting you….

  8. This wasn’t a halloween story, but it’s the scariest thing i remember ever doing. On one of Ken and my trips to Oklahoma/Arkansas, we stopped at a family graveyard, he wanted to get pictures of his ancestor’s grave markers. It was late in the day, around 4 p.m. I’d say, and one of the Oklahoma storms started brewing, and the black clouds were rolling in, and I saw 2 people walking toward us that totally resembled the zombies in Night of the Living Dead. I was terrified,I don’t remember if Ken felt creepy or not but we tried to back hurry to the truck but not so fast that we’d insult whoever it was that was approaching us. My heart was pounding out of my chest!

    1. Ahhhhh!!!!!! (That’s a scream, not a contented sigh–never sure how to spell the scream version) Aunt Terry, I’m glad you survived! That sounds like it was very scary. Oklahoma storms rank right up there with zombies and you got both in one night!!!!! 🙂

      1. Holy graveyard! I can’t remember being totally scared at Halloween, ever. I don’t do horror movies and am not a fan of haunted houses. Even when I went to the Haunted House in Old San Diego, I wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to, but the spirit(s) weren’t communicating with me, or anyone, that day.

        I’m happy you had a good time, though. I would do that!

        1. Hi Susan! As a San Diegan, I can vouch for not feeling many ghostly beings out and about. But who can blame them? If I had to choose between spending my evenings at the beach or haunting people… 🙂

  9. I took Alanna to the Whaley House in San Diego a couple summers ago, and it wasn’t scary there, but when we got home, she swears she saw a ghost in her room, and insisted that one of the Whaley ghosts followed us home. It was scary, she believed so I believed.

    1. My Mom took me to the Whaley House one day and we didn’t feel anything downstairs but the minute we got half way up the stairs, I could feel the hairs on my neck stand up and it got cold…… but this was in the late 70’s early 80’s

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